Rodney Dangerfield dies

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Rodney Dangerfield, the comic famed for his self-deprecating one-liners and signature phrase "I can't get no respect," has died.Photo: Reuters

Rodney Dangerfield, the bug-eyed comic whose self-deprecating one-liners brought him stardom in clubs, television and movies and made his lament "I don't get no respect" a catchphrase, died today. He was 82.

Dangerfield, who fell into a coma after undergoing heart surgery, died at 1.20pm (04:20 Wednesday AEST), said publicist Kevin Sasaki.

Dangerfield had a heart valve replaced on August 25 at the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center.

Sasaki said in a statement that Dangerfield suffered a small stroke after the operation and developed infectious and abdominal complications.

But in the past week he had emerged from the coma, the publicist said.

Clad in a black suit, red tie and white shirt with collar that seemed too tight, Dangerfield convulsed audiences with lines such as: "When I was born, I was so ugly that the doctor slapped my mother," and "Every time I get in an elevator, the operator says the same thing to me: 'Basement?"'

In a 1986 interview, he explained the origin of his "respect" trademark:

"I had this joke: 'I played hide and seek; they wouldn't even look for me'. To make it work better, you look for something to put in front of it: I was so poor, I was so dumb, so this, so that. I thought, 'Now what fits that joke?' Well, 'No one liked me' was all right. But then I thought, a more profound thing would be, 'I get no respect'."

Dangerfield is survived by his wife, Joan, and two children from a previous marriage.